Our Lives Out Loud

By Ann Louise Gilligan and Katherine Zappone, Founders of CPC
Published by O’Brien Press.

“This book is a story of two lives conjoined in love and the pursuit of justice. I recommend this book highly and believe that it will be an inspiration and resource to many around the world who seek to establish a more just order”

—Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu

When invited to write our memoirs by Michael O’Brien of The O’Brien Press, Dublin, we were delighted to accept because it was an opportunity to record all the ways in which our love for each other brings us through the ebb and flow of life. We placed our personal story within the context of the social history of the times, and the narrative covers seeking justice for others — in efforts to eradicate Irish poverty through the community development organisation now called An Cosán —as well as seeking justice for ourselves through a court case to recognise our marriage to each other. In our book we describe that we married each other because we wanted to bind ourselves in love, as well as in law, to receive societal support for our promise-keeping and the generativity that flows from it. We married each other because in that one act we were able to exercise our human freedom for the single most important choice of our lives.

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“Ann Louise and Katherine have written an inspiring and engaging account of their love story, and how love enables each of us to be brave and to do what we want and need to do” —Edna O’Brien, launching Ann Louise and Katherine’s book in The Merrion Hotel, Dublin.

“It’s an extraordinary book: a deeply personal autobiography by two lovers, a fiercely intelligent political manifesto for commmunity education and social change, a breathtaking challenge to the Catholic Church, and a meditation on love and relatedness. Buy it. Read it. Be inspired.”—Hot Press

“Our Lives Out Loud is animated by the idealistic spirit of these two women; it is a celebration of a shared public life”—The Sunday Business Post

“This is a powerful and uplifting book by two pioneering educators”—Joe Duffy, Irish Mail